Salt Water
by VanillaSpiders
Summary: Au. The cure for anything is salt water. Sweat, tears…or the sea. Phantom needs to learn more about humans if he's ever going to keep Danny, and Danny can't shake off this sinking feeling that something is wrong. sequel to Fathoms Below
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

Ships sink.

When a ship sinks, sometimes depending on placement it gets washed ashore, and sometimes it eventually makes it ways to land by the oceans current, but sooner or later the ship parts in such a way that it's _scattered_, a plank of its former self. Sometimes it's a lot of the ship, if the ocean can manage it, and sometimes its only the heaviest parts, because gravity likes to bring things down, in every sense of the word.

No man had ever made it this deep before, or if they did they weren't alive to see it.

In this case, all that managed to make it toward the depths of sea was a few odds and ends, one of them being an anchor. It had taken a while for this particular anchor to sink but it had done it, and was headed straight down with little concern except landing.

Bits and odds settled in the sand before the anchor ever did, tiny dust clouds that hadn't moved in centuries were alive, if only briefly, in a puff. They settled too.

An eye the size of a manhole opened lazily when this happened, and was about to close again when it saw nothing of important was happening. Nothing _had_ happened in seven hundred years, after all, be it by luck or fate.

Until all of a sudden luck went on a holiday and fate tossed the dice.

The anchor landed hard, and bounced against something much bigger than the ship it once belonged to. The creature gave a long low bellow and moved, causing _lots_ of ancient sand to shift with its thrashes, a creating an underwater desert experiencing a dust tornado.

A limb crashed through an older resting ship, and tore it in half with the gesture, but this only seemed to fury the figure more, like when you wake up and head for the alarm clock only to trip over your blanket.

On the surface, the water rippled a bit, and no one really noticed. Which brings us to the question, if a monster awakes in the deep and no is around to hear it, did it make a sound?


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

Danny had a sinking feeling today.

To be fair he'd kind of woken up with it, but said the feeling seemed to have doubled in size when he saw Jazz's cat streak by with a yowl that could wake up the dead. It was soaking wet, too. Great.

"Oh for the love of—_Phantom_!" He cried down the stairs the cat had just shot up. He slammed a cup in the drying rack for emphasis, if only for himself.

"Phantom how many times do I have to tell you, leave the damn cat alone!"

There was a splash of water and a faint snigger from below, and it only served to make Danny frown deeper and move back over to the dishes. He muttered under his breath all the way about curious merman and that dumb cat that didn't learn the last time Phantom went after it. To be fair Phantom probably smelled like fish—the cat had a reason for its curiosity but unfortunately for puss Phantom ate things the size of that him for _breakfast_. Or at the very least chased after them, because he was a hunter too, Phantom just happened to be the bigger hunter.

_Outta find a pod of humpback whales and see what he does then. Probably bite their tails._ Danny thought bitterly, scrubbing a plate with more gusto than necessary. That was the problem maybe, sometimes Phantom thought with just his stomach.

And sometimes, thanks to his mother's need to feed _everyone_ in the house, Phantom got more than his usual fish or sandwich. Sometimes it seemed, he got chocolate chip pancakes, grapefruit, bacon and according to what Danny pulled from the sink, half a fork.

"…Mooom?" Danny called slowly, "Did you give Phantom the leftovers again?" he tried to keep the accusing tone out of his voice but that was the second fork this week, and he wasn't entirely sure Phantom could stomach this sort of rich food. Or silverware. And anyway way they would run out of utensils sooner or later.

"What was that Danny?" his mother called from the living room where she and his father were testing..something that smelled like oranges and salmon.

"Nevermind…" Danny sighed, trying to lean the fork against the counter to bend the teeth back in place. He might as well have been trying to out swim Phantom. He checked the plates for any bite marks and was relived not to find even a chip.

Danny finished the dishes and tossed out the fork on his way to the Fenton basement as well. This house was about 60% basement to be honest, with its own two levels and three off rooms, the main room having the space for a massive gallon tank, like one at a museum.

Well, when your parents were mythological sea creature hunters, and there _were_ mythological sea creatures out there, they tended to get paid the big bucks, even if it was only to drive out the local swamp monster from camp every other year. Or take a look at a two headed fish to confirm if it was real.

Not only that, their parent's work was in their front yard practically, said front yard being the ocean that surrounded Amity Island, the beach and docks and Pier only four blocks away. It was a nice little island, far as islands went, but it did have…_occasional_ problems with ships mysteriously being steered into rocks, or nets being slashed and fish being stolen.

To make things better, their tank, which had been empty as long as Danny could remember, was now filled, and currently loosing most of its water because its occupant had spotted Danny on the steps and was flying around in animated circles, tail smacking the surface and spraying outward.

"Ph—Phantom! Hey, hold on!" Danny laughed, heading for the counter by the door.

"What's gotten into you, eh?" He asked as he fished through the cabinets where they kept the medical supplies for Phantom's shoulder. The reason he was here in the Fenton basement, actually, his shoulder had been…stabbed…with a small harpoon like weapon designed to do exactly what it did, though Phantom was thankfully on the mend for the most part. Danny turned round and held an arm up when water slashed toward him again, unable to stop the chuckle from the playful action.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He tried, to no anvil. The silver haired merman swung round the tank with a twist of his tail and gurgled.

When he was close enough Phantom suddenly flung out of the tank and hung over the edge by his crossed arms, fans on the side of his head spread big as they'd go as he watched Danny intelligently, grinning. He took one look at the items in Danny's arms and cocked his head, blinking in askance.

"Danny wrap?" He spoke clearly, pointing to his own gauzed shoulder, which was waterlogged, but white thankfully and now barely holding on.

"Yes, I'll wrap your shoulder. Hold still though, buddy." Danny smiled as he finally spotted the tape and scissors. "This should be the last time, too, if everything looks okay under there."

The merman purred and remained where he was obediently, watching Danny drag over a small stool and step up so he was a bit above the merman in the tank. Danny stuffed the new gauze and tape in his pocket, held the scissors in his teeth and began to undo the old bandage.

Danny went slow and careful as he could, not for the first time marveling at the simple trust the merman was showing him. Phantom was a friendly enough guy toward his family, and even downright liked Jazz, despite continuing to scare the hell out of her cat. He would, for the most part, let his parents have his old scales for science or do small, harmless experiments on him if Danny was there and there was fish in it for him. He'd swim as many laps as they wanted and purred when anyone entered the basement, and perked up for any attention he could get. He'd even learned more words from Danny's mother, leaving Danny feeling a bit jealous in the ease which she taught him, because Phantom had learned more about English from her in a week than he had from Danny in three.

That being said, the first time his mother and father went to change the dressing on the wound on his right shoulder, Phantom had basically flipped his shit, given a screech and ended pressed at the bottom of the tank, fins flared and hissing up a bubbly storm, blood drifting in the water from where a stitch had pulled.

Danny had flung down stairs with a sandwich he'd been eating still in hand, and in the end he had to use that sandwich to coax the defensive merman up out of the water, and was given instructions to fix and wrap the bandage himself. His parents had to watch, and took notes all the while on Phantom's sudden switch in the behavior, the whining he did at Danny and the butting with his good shoulder to get the teen's attention and touch when he wanted it.

Since then, Danny had taken to doing it every day, simply because no one else was allowed to do it.

Currently Phantom floated there good as gold, sniffing at the old bandage as it was peeled away and revealed the wounded scales and skin underneath. He flattened his frills and tried to move it, but was stopped by Danny gently but firmly.

"…any of these itch?" Danny asked, pantomiming his question by reaching to scratch his own right shoulder.

Phantom nodded, and Danny noticed the bit of wear and tear to parts of the old gauze, no doubt Phantom's attempt with his claws to get the itch.

"Okay…I guess I have to put on that cream stuff…be right back. Phantom. Stay, don't go back in the water." The merman huffed but stayed where he was, the thin wheezing noise that was Phantom's breathing followed Danny all the way as he discarded the old wraps and fetched the scar cream and hurried back.

"Kay, ready?" Danny asked with a grin, waiting till he received a nod before applying the white lotion. When that was done he wiped his fingers on his jeans and, with Phantom's help, wrapped his shoulder back up, taking note when a few scales fell free in-between the actions.

"Hm…" Danny caught them before they sank and put them in his pocket, before tapping the gauze firmly down.

"How's that?" Phantom started shifting and testing it out.

"Not too tight? No? Good cause I—" he stopped short, because Phantom was currently pressing their lips together, silencing any verbal action except for a slightly startled noise from the back of the human's throat.

Danny's eyes widened, but Phantom's were closed as the merman applied an ounce of pressure for a moment more before leaning back and opening his eyes. He met Danny's dazed blue eyes and smirked.

"Surprised Danny. Sorry." Though he didn't particularly look it, not with that snide little side smirk.

"…jerk." He muttered, grabbing the merman by his good shoulder and yanking him over the tank edge, slamming their lips together again, earning a delighted croon from the merman.

He broke his lips from Phantom's when he heard footsteps on the stairs, and stood there innocently as he could muster before the tank as his parents walked down.

"Momdad!" Came a chirp next to him. Phantom thumped his tail in the water once, having heard Jazz and Danny say it so much Phantom seemed to think they were _both_ momdad, and since he rarely saw them apart, maybe Phantom was on to something, Danny wondered. Either way the merman waved to his parents eagerly, glowing eyes on his father as he sniffed the air. His frills lifted as he perked up eagerly when the large man drew his arm back.

"Phantom, catch!" The merman perked up and leapt for the fish Jack tossed with a jovial laugh, the merman reflecting it even when he crashed back into to the water with a salmon in his one claw. He grinned lowered to the bottom of the tank, settling down happily. He began eating it as Danny sighed and hopped down from the stool.

"Dad, he's gonna gain weight!" Danny protested with a moan. "He can't swim as much!"

"Seems to be doing just fine, sides, he could use it!"

Danny rolled his eyes and shook his head fondly, leaning back against the tank as he watched the merman devour the fish on the black matted floor.

Sinking feeling or no, Danny found he could ignore it for now.

Wasn't like anything was happening, after all. Life had finally returned to normal, albeit with the addition of a…attractive, rather clingy merman.

Danny was more okay with that then you'd think.

**oOo**

Phantom stretched out on the bottom of the black sand and made himself comfortable, content to watch his partner as he spoke with the people Phantom could only decipher as the ones who sired him. Phantom knew little of the birthing process, but maybe the human male carried the offspring for a while like the tiny seahorses did? The large orange male certainly seemed big enough.

Well, no matter. Phantom wasn't really concerned with that type of stuff. He didn't see a reason to be. Still, the man brought food, and it was good, almost as good as Danny's, so he was clearly the leader and a good provider.

Phantom missed the ocean, but was rather comfortable here, for now. His wound was healed up mostly, and he knew once he was better and convinced Danny of the same, he could get back to his home, and he and Danny could swim together again, and lay in the sand under the sun like the used to.

But for now…

Phantom yawned and lowered his chin on his folded arms, sleepy eyes still following his human as he walked around after his momdad, from behind the clear rock he was unable to hear them well at this distance. Phantom gave a yawn and tried to scratch briefly at the white material covering his arm, but soon gave up and simply shifted till the skin rubbed against it from the inside out. Oh yes, right there. He wondered how long the scales would take to come back, and he wondered what the blue female would make for the third meal—humans ate so strictly, it was funny! But Phantom wasn't going to complain, he'd never had more than two meals a day in his life, and of course there were some days he didn't get anything at all.

Hm. Yes, for now, this wasn't so bad.

He was with Danny after all, and that's what counted.


End file.
